Clockwork Whispers
by kyu6
Summary: Elly really doesn't want to go on a journey. All she wants to do is to return to her little island and live with her Pokémon friends. But destiny isn't tricked that easily: After being send to Unova to meet N, former prince of Team Plasma, she learns that being "human" is a greater task than it would seem... !This story takes place between BW and BW2, so spoilers!


**Author's note: Ohhh boy, it's been a while since I last wrote something. And writing an entire story in English is something I haven't done before. But I want to improve my English, so I thought "why not?". Anyway, I've been obsessed with Pokémon BW2 lately, and I've always wanted to write a story of what happens between Pkmn BW and BW2, so... let's give it a shot! This story starts approx. 1 year before the events of BW2, so spoilers for both BW and BW2!**

* * *

The Purrloin let out an arrogant purr as his trainer took one step back to see his finished work. A girl was lying on the ground, face down and stained with dirt. The boy chuckled.

"Feeling home yet? Dirt and mud is all you know, right? You wild beast, you're not even worth being called a human being!"

The girl didn't react. The boy let out a quiet "Tsk" before ruffling through his black hair. His next attempt to mock his opponent was cut short as an angered howl could be heard.

The girl's Pokémon, a Zorua, was standing at her trainer's side. She looked exhausted, various scratches that were left due to Purrloins Fury Swipes could be seen.

At that point the Zorua should have already fainted, but seeing her trainer getting attacked by that boy had caused the tiny Pokémon to get back up at her feet, struggeling to gain balance.

The boy smirked at the sight of the trembling Zorua. "Pathetic."

He raised his foot, ready to crash it back down onto the tiny Pokémon.

Zorua was ready. She knew she couldn't dodge a hit that close. She let out a quiet growl as she watched the boy's foot coming closer and closer.

The dark-type Pokémon realised too late, that the boy didn't intend to kick her, but instead was aiming for her trainer!

Zorua quickly shook her head to clear her thoughts, then immediatly focused and, with all strength that was left, jumped, ready to bite the attacker.

Before she could even reach him, she felt something moving between herself and the boy. Arms were wrapped around her and the taste of warm, fresh blood filled her mouth.

Her trainer had stood up, grabbed her and turned around in one quick movement, so that her back was facing the boy, who now had lost balance and had almost landed on his Purrloin as he fell to the ground.

Zorua looked up to her trainer, eyes widened in shock."Elly... Why did you-" The girl smiled. "Are you alright, Blank?" The Zorua started carefully licking the wound her bite had caused. Elly gently pet Blank's head, completly forgetting about the boy and his Purrloin.

Purrloin, who was busy with cleaning his fur after his trainer had fallen down, now aggressivly hissed at Elly. Elly turned around, coldly meeting the gaze of the feline.

"Yeah, I'm talking to you!", the Purrloin hissed. "You can understand me, right? Listen up, freak. We don't want the likes of you here! So, would you be kind enough to just go back into the hole you came from? Pretty please?"

Elly let out a quiet laughter. "Oh, how I wish I could." That answer took Purrloin by surprise.

His trainer shook his head before he got up. "Purrloin, you don't actually need to talk to her. She doesn't deserve your attention." Purrloin purred in response.

"You will pay for this, beast girl. Trust me, you will." Elly raised her chin, pulling Blank closer. The boy stood there for a few moments, aggressivly meeting her gaze, but he didn't accept the challenge.

Instead, he turned around, and vanished into the building behind him. Purrloin followed him, but turned around once more. "I hope that they will punish you for hurting Oliver."

Blank struggled in Elly's arms upon hearing those words. "It was him who attacked first! We didn't do anything!" Purrloin flicked his tail. "But guess what, no one believes a freak." With that being said, the feline jumped after his trainer.

Elly put Blank back down. The Zorua's fur was ruffled, but she didn't care about that. "Why did you stop me? I should have bitten him so that he never tries to hurt you again!"

Elly chuckled. "Why would he stop 'hurting' me just because of your bite? I mean, you're not exactly the most fearsome type of Pokémon..."

Blank poffed the fur around her neck. She now looked even more adorable than before, and Elly had to restrain herself from bursting into laughter. "I'm going to be the most feared Pokémon in the whole world, just you wait!" Elly couldn't hold it any longer.

"Of course you will, and I will be the Pokémon league champion!" Blank looked at her with a confused look in her eyes.

"What's a 'league champion'?"

While whipping the dust off of her clothes, Elly tried to explain:"Well, the so-called league is a place where the strongest of all trainer's compete and try to take the spot of the champion. But in order to achieve this, they have to get past four trainers that function as some kind of... guard and judge. They evalute every challenger and only the best among the best are able to face the champion."

Blank's eyes lightened up as she heard that. "Oh, do you think that we are able to meet one of those... champions?" Elly laughed, petting the Zorua's head. "I don't know if I even want to meet one of them. I bet they are as arrogant as Oliver, if not even more."

Blank let out a snarl. "Sometimes I wonder if Pokémon would make better humans."

* * *

"Eleonore, you should know better than this." Professor Birch shook his head in disbelief.

"You know that it's a crime to let your Pokémon attack other humans. Heck, you could've gotten into much more trouble than this!"

Elly clenched her fists. She knew that. She knew that all. That was the only reason she stopped Blank from attacking Oliver, because she knew that they both would get into trouble.

After Blank had scared him away, Oliver had ran straight to Professor Birch, who was in charge for looking after him and Elly while they were still learning about Pokémon.

To Elly, all that knowledge about Pokémon and how to fight and how to collect the eight badges didn't really matter, she just wanted to return to her little forest, meet up with her Pokémon friends and live there in peace.

It was true, during her time on the Mirage Islands, the always changing island chain in Hoenn, she often wondered when she would finally meet another human, who her parents were and how humans were in general, but ever since she had been brought to Hoenn's mainland, she felt the strong need to return to her life in solitude, only sharing it with her Pokémon.

Oliver, on the other hand, couldn't wait to go and challenge the gym leaders. Oliver's parents usually weren't around, so Birch, who was close to them, had volunteered to look after him. Even though Oliver was more than ready to go on a journey on his own, Elly knew that she would have to stick with him for much longer than she wanted.

His parents weren't the kind who listen to their child's wishes, so Oliver had to watch while all his friends went on their adventure as soon as they turned 10.

And now, 6 years later, he still wasn't allowed to leave Littleroot Town. Elly knew that he was bitter about that and that this bitterness resulted in his arrogance towards her.

Still, that didn't change the fact, that Oliver was quite the douchebag. Said person had been standing quietly in the background, looking through Elly as if she was nothing but thin air, but after Professor Birch raised his voice, a smile could been seen in his face. Professor Birch didn't notice that, and went on with his scolding.

"I know, this is all unfamiliar to you, but we have rules here in society that you have to obey. You can't just attack someone just because you feel like it!"

Elly's voice was quiet, almost too quiet, for anyone to be heard. "It's not like I choose to live here..." That's right, she didn't voluntarily choose to leave her island. She was taken at the age of 13, and even now, several years after she had "returned" to human society, she still didn't feel comfortable. Elly knew that Professor Birch had to lecture her.

Oliver's father had paid a huge sum to support the professor's research. Birch had thankfully accepted the money, being just a poor professor with hardly any way to get money, and was now in debt to his sponsor.

And, of course, a boy from such a rich family couldn't possibly do anything wrong! Birch had finished his lecture. He looked at Elly with some sort of disappointment in his eyes. "Maybe you're not ready to start your journey..."

Elly jumped in shock after she heard that. "No, believe me, I am ready! Please, just let me go, I promise that I won't do anyone any harm!", she begged. She knew she didn't do any harm in the first place, but staying stubborn wouldn't really change the Professor's opinion.

Birch sighed. He had started to go around the lab, lost in his thoughts.

The awkward silence made Elly even more impatient. Oliver was staring at her arrogantly. He was certainly not satisfied. He wanted her to leave but stay as well. At first, Elly was confused by that twisted logic, until she overheard a conversation between Birch and Oliver.

Oliver wanted to go on a journey through Hoenn, with his trusty Purrloin at his side. But at the same time, he wanted to never see Elly's face again.

And Elly knew, that Birch would only let them go together, fearing that Oliver couldn't handle the world on his own, fearing he might get hurt and Birch would be blamed by Olivers parents.

Olivers constant begging to finally leave hadn't changed his parents mind, the only thing that they admitted was that he would need a Pokémon companion, which led them to give him his Purrloin for his 14th birthday. After that, he became even more annoying than before, constantly challenging Elly and Blank, only to blame them afterwards if he lost.

Birch had settled down on his chair as he grabbed a Pokéball that was lying on his table. Elly knew this very Pokéball due to it's several scratches. This was the Pokéball of Sceptile, Ruby's very first Pokémon. He left it in the care of his father while he was absent exploring Hoenn's various caves. Birch looked at the Pokéball, eyes filled with sadness.

It was obvious that he missed his son, and Elly knew, that ever since she lived here Birch thought of her as a daughter. Birch was the type of man to quickly take a liking to someone, she experienced it first-hand.

Oliver was getting impatient. He was just about to open his mouth when Birch finally started to speak. "Some environmental change could be good for you..."

Birch still was focussed on the Pokéball, so he didn't notice right away that Oliver had taken one step closer to him.

"But professor, you can't predict what she is going to do next, wouldn't it be bad for her and the society if we release her?" The way Oliver was saying that made Elly furious.

"Don't talk to me like I'm a beast or something!" She had never meant to show her anger towards the boy, but he forced her to do so. Birch sensed the tension between Elly and Oliver.

"Oliver, would you be kind enough to go upstairs for a moment?" Oliver hesitated. "But prof-" "NOW." Birch had raised his voice once again.

Elly knew him as a patient and kind man, but she knew instinctivly that you should not mess with him. Mumbling incomprehensive stuff, Oliver slowly turned around and began climbing up the stairs to the upper floor.

He had just vanished from sight when Birch started to sigh. "Elly." His voice was deeper, calmer than before. Elly felt a cold shiver run down her spine.

She could see how tired the professor was. Of course, taking care of two children who are not even his own was a tough job.

And, to make things worse, he also had Oliver's dad watching over him, which must be a great pressure.

Elly, on the other hand, had no parents that would care about how she was doing. In fact, she had no parents at all.

Well, human parents at least.

Birch sat down and the dull look in his eyes frightend Elly. "I know you're not happy here."

Elly was surprised to hear that. She thought that Birch wanted to talk with her because of her troubled relationship with Oliver, but bringing up this?

"It's not that bad...", she had to admit. "But, you know, I miss my little island a lot. Of course, having a home that can shelter you while it's uncomfortable outside is awesome, but... I just miss being in the wild. I miss it so much."

Birch looked up, mild pain was in his eyes. "Do you wish that he never found you?" _He._ By that he meant Ruby, his son. He was the one who found her while he was exploring Hoenn's seas with Cubo, his Swampert.

At that time, Elly was 13 years old, well, at least she seemed that age. Ruby, at that time in his late 20's, took her with him and brought her to his father. Elly shook her head. Now was not the time to remember that.

"Professor Birch, it's alright that Ruby brought me her. I've always wondered about the mainland, about humans. So, I'm glad to have experienced that. But, still... I miss my family..." Birch flinched. Oh crap, Elly thought.

Birch was very sensitive to that topic. "No, uh, I didn't mean uh it wasn't meant-" Birch stood up, sorrow shining in his eyes. "Maybe... maybe it's a good idea to send you on an adventure. You clearly don't belong into this lab. It's not right to force someone to stay."

His voice broke as he said that. Elly turned her eyes away, unable to look at the hurt man. "Alright. It's decided. I'll send you on an adventure."

Elly's eyes widend as she heard that. "Professor-!" "But not in Hoenn."

Elly froze. "What do you mean?"

Birch stroke his short beard, a glimpse of his old and cheerful self could be seen in just that move. "Yes, yes that's it! That's brilliant!"

Utterly confused, Elly took one step closer to Birch. "What is brilliant! Please, tell me! Tell me, why not Hoenn?"

Birch focussed his gaze onto her. "A little over a year ago, there was an disaster in the Unova region.

Team Plasma under the reign of a boy who was raised by Pokémon almost took over the entire region... But then was stopped by a girl, who fought alongside one of the twin dragons. If you were to go to Unova, you could possibly meet both of them, the boy, I believe his name was N or M or something like that, and the girl too! Although I don't remember her name..."

Elly looked at the professor in disbelief. Was he kidding? He must be kidding.

Oh great, let's bring up all the weird humans into one spot..., she thought.

But Birch wasn't the type to mock her. He was one of the few people that genuently cared for her, and it seemed that this idea was just another form of "caring".

Birch was energetic, even more than before, and ran around the lab, making phone calls, talking almost too fast to be understood, and Elly was not sure what to do.

All she could do was to helplessly watch while the Professor arranged her flight to Unova.


End file.
